Saturday, March 31, 2012

Here's a mani I came up a few weeks ago using CH14, one of the image plates offered in my giveaway and part of the 26 set of plates offered by Cheeky-Beauty on Amazon (when they are in stock!).

Started with a base of Orly Mirror Mirror, two coats.

Topped with two coats of OPI My Pointe Exactly. As I mentioned before, I used a base because I don't like seeing VNL on me, My Pointe Exactly does add another element to the mani that may not translate well in the pix.

Added one coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle. I adore this glitter! Can easily see it used so often! It is by no means is a dupe to Nubar White Dot which I have too as the added element of the silver glitter.

Stamped using Black Konad special polish using CH14. Black/grey/charcoal is a fave combination of mine (hopefully you're not bored with seeing it so often!). This was another mani that I failed in stamping, not only at the tips, which I used a brush and painted them in, but really messed up on the flower on my index finger which I removed with a brush and some acetone, as you can see here where there is the big area with nothing in it.

I then stamped in a new flower on the index finger (its still not 100% *sigh*). Then, for a little colour interest, added a few random dots using red Konad special polish.

Topped with SV.

Tonight, I have to try to come up with something interesting (hopefully, anyway!) for the Adventures in Stamping challenge...which is a mani WITHOUT stamping...now, that's a challenge!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

This giveaway involves 6 XL plates provided by Cheeky-Beauty and the 26 set of the Cheeky image plates purchased by me! Cheeky-Beauty also provided other products (numerous fauxnad plates, nail stickers, beauty tools) which I'll randomly distribute to the winners.

These are examples of the nail stickers, along with the 26 set of Cheeky plates.

The nail image plates....there are 15 in total.

For polishes, I thought about this for a long time..... I'm not sure if this will work but here it goes.....

Each giveaway winner will also receive three polishes of their choice. I have access to most of the recently released and core colours of OPI, China Glaze, Nubar, Misa, Orly and Essie collections, most of the current CND colours and effects, Orly, Color Club, Quo by Orly, typical drug store brands like Sally Hansen, Revlon, Orly. I picked up a few extra bottles of Sinful Colors Green Ocean when I was in the US last so got them....as well as stumbled across Sally Hansen Night Hydrangea not too long ago, which is an oldie but a goodie! Maybe you're looking for some old Sally Hansen Opal Fires? Chromes? Crackle? Magnetics? Revlon Whimsical? Perhaps Revlon Starry Pink, Blue Mosaic or Facets of Fuchsia? Those Midie glitters I've been using? Maybe some of the cool dusty layering polishes I found? I found a place that has a lot of the NY Summer jellies too. I'm not suggesting you have to pick any of these, but I'm going to suggest that you list your top 10 polishes or attach your wish list if you have one already compiled; I hope I either have something from it or can track down three of them! Whatever is sent will be random....and I'll try my best to track them down, pending they are available to me.

Obviously, this is an ambitious undertaking and I cannot guarantee that I will be able to find three polishes from your wish list. And if your three polish picks are Chanel Holographic, Essie Starry Starry Night and OPI My Private Jet original holo version, it's not gonna happen! Same with anything not readily available to me like indie polishes or polishes not commonly found in Canada. Therefore, I reserve the right to substitute three polishes from current collections from OPI or China Glaze such as the OPI Muppet, Ballet or Holland Collection, or China Glaze Hunger Games or Prismatics collections....which I have easy access to and subject to availability....and yes, I have access to all Prismastics even though I know they haven't been widely released yet! I was by my local supply place on March 25th and they still have in stock most of OPI Burlesque collex, OPI Nicki Minaj collex, OPI Katy Perry collex, China Glaze Electropop, China Glaze Anchors Away, Essie Luxeffects, Essie Navigate Her, Essie Resort and Essie Carry on collex too. I will try to work this out with each person directly so they will receive polishes of their choice!

The giveaway will work like this.

There will be a total of seven giveaway winners. The first name drawn will receive their choice of the XL plate of their choice or the 26 set of Cheeky plates, along with 3 polishes of their choice as outlined above.

The second name drawn will receive their choice of one XL plate of those that remain or the 26 set Cheeky plates if they remain, and 3 polishes of their choice as outlined above.

The third name drawn will have their choice of one XL plates of those that remain, or if by chance the 26 set of Cheeky plates if not claimed for, along with 3 polishes of their choice as outlined above.

The fourth name drawn will have the choice of one remaining XL plates, or if by chance the 26 set of Cheeky plates if not claimed, along with 3 polishes of their choice as outlined above.

The fifth name drawn will have the choice of one remaining XL plates, or if by chance the 26 set of Cheeky plates (not that I think they'll be around that long!) along with 3 polishes of their choice as outlined above.

The sixth name drawn will have the choice of one of the remaining XL plates, or if by chance the 26 set of Cheeky plates, along with 3 polishes of their choice as outlined above.

The seventh name drawn will have whatever is left of one of the remaining XL plates, or if by some miracle, no one has picked the 26 set of Cheeky plates, along with 3 polishes of their choice as outlined above.

Hopefully this is clear and not too complicated!

Once I have contacted the winners, they will have 48 hours to reply or I will contact the next person. Seven names will be drawn for the seven prizes; the first person will have first choice of the products as noted, the second will have second choice and so on....however, it may be necessary to pick additional names in the event that I'm not contacted by one of the original 7 names drawn; if so, I will update the post accordingly. I will coordinate directly with those who win what is available and update the post accordingly for full disclosure purposes. The contest is open internationally and you must be a public follower on GFC; please refer to my giveaway policy for further details.

Thanks so much to Cheeky Beauty for supplying the products for the giveway (except the 26 set of plates and the polishes which were/will be purchased by me). I bought the 26 set before Cheeky contacted me or even knew I had a blog as I had planned on giving a set away which is why I bought them when I bought mine. But shortly after my first post with the new plates, Cheeky contacted me...saying I had been 'cheeky' with them by not telling them I had a blog and they discovered mine with their products mentioned, would I be interested in products for a giveaway? I said sure, not even knowing what they'd be sending. I was blown away with their generosity of these six plates and the other products! So thanks so much Cheeky for making these plates available. ! I don't have these exact image plates but I plan on ordering a couple of them when I tried to order them, they are out of stock as I'd hope to get some soon and then post some mani's using these same plates. They are close to other XL plates on the market...not exact, but close!

Here's the entry form!

Giveaway will be open until midnight, my time, Monday, April 16, 2012.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

It seems that I haven't had anything bright on my nails in a while. So when I was looking for a polish to wear a few days after St. Patrick's Day, I was looking for a bold polish, with a simple design stamping-wise due to time restraints...and no glitter. This is what I came up with.

This is Orly Terracotta, a wonderful bright coral/orange. In my camera, the pix look red so I'm glad on they appear orange/coral in these pix (on my monitor anyways!). Two coats. I'm thinking this will be perfect to wear in the summer!

Stamped using white Konad special polish using Big SdP J. Unfortunately, this was another stamping fail as you can see the image stamping stopped short at the tips and wasn't very good on the ring finger. I went through a string of mani's like this as I've mentioned before.....so be prepared while they continue to show up! I did try to fix it by drawing in some faux lines on the tips....my attempts don't look that great when blown up in macro but were a good blend in real life.

I wore this mani shortly after doing a string of St. Patrick's Day manis so I wanted something that didn't involve glitter. Mani after mani after mani with glitter was taking a toll on my fingers...I wanted a mani I could take off in a breeze and with no foil! But then, I decided even this mani needed a little sparkle, so added a few silver gray dots using a random striper.

Topped with SV and done!

Onto some blogkeeping....I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I've done a bit of work to my blog...it took me foreverrrrrr as I'm just not well versed in doing these kind of things...plus free time not being too plentiful. Nothing too dramatic...over the past couple weeks, I've slowly added a few different pages to my blog if you wish to check them out. This enabled me to take my long wishlist off the main page and tidy up the home page. I also added a widget that put the labels of the posts into one heading...which eliminated the dreaded 276964808 labels I had before. Added a search widget option. Shortened the number of posts visible to hopefully tidy things up a bit on the home page. Lastly, added a couple different ways to follow...a start in case GFC ever decides to cease functioning for blogger. If I can ever figure out Facebook or if I decide to tweet, or have a tumblr, or flicker, these icons may one day appear. I did think about changing my wallpaper but when I was fooling around with different ones, none of them seemed like 'me'...they all looked odd when I was previewing them. So for now, and until I have time to come up with something different, this boring ol' rose coloured one will have to do!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Some of you will know that I ventured over to Adventures in Stamping, thanks to an invite from a fellow Canadian gal! So thank you Marcia! This weeks challenge was Black and White...perhaps if you already follow fellow blogging gals who are part of the group, you'll have noticed the amazing, sophisticated black and white mani's they've been posting today. Mine wasn't one of those sophisticated ones, that's for sure! lol!

A cow mani was the first thing I thought of when I thought of black and white. Started with a base of two coats of OPI Bride's Bouquet.

Stamped using Konad black special polish. (I've had a couple disappointments with KC black with a stamping not being dark enough, so alas, back to Konad. I haven't given up on KC, but for the time being, I'm back to using Konad again.) Image plates used were XXL Big SdP-1 (index), SdP 44 (ring) and fauxnad F2 (rest of fingers and thumb).

Added a french tip using fauxnad F2 on the index finger and then did freehand printing under cow head on ring finger.

Topped with SV.

I was really astonished at the creativity that everyone came up with by using two simple, basic colours, black and white.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

I got into my head that somehow a gray and yellow mani would look cool...?....seen my recently purchased OPI Ballet collex and FingerPaints Gumdrops & Lollipops collex sitting there, so I thought...why not?

Here's the base. Two coats of FingerPaints Lemon Sour. The polish was a little on the thick side but nothing a few drops of thinner didn't fix. Accent is one coat of Orly Mirror Mirror with two coats of OPI My Pointe Exactly. I know this may seem redundant to use a base for this very jelly polish, but I wanted to have a little coverage before it was added. The OPI did add a whole different element of glossiness to the gray; not sure if it translates well in the pix though...or if it really mattered because I stamped on top of it anyway!

Stamped using Konad black special polish using Big SdP M.

Urgghh...this mani is one of a string of stamping fails I've had recently as I've been missing the stamping all the way down to the tips plus along the curve at the tips of my some nails but I've been especially messing up the index finger lately. So I took a fine tip brush and just added in the lines down past the tips....somewhat. Looking at some of these pix, it seems I still missed a few spots. *sigh* Anyway, added a few white dots in the centre of the flowers using Konad white special polish.

Then a few yellow dots using the FingerPaints Lemon Sour on the accent nail and then topped with a coat of SV.

I'm still on the fence about this one. It does seem a little busy but I don't think I mind it..maybe? I guess its OK, but I don't think I'll be rushing to do another yellow and gray mani anytime soon...but it was cool for a change!

Thanks for looking!

PS: I'm still working on the Giveaway post...I've typed a draft but still need to edit it...should be soon though!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Hope you had a great weekend! Other than a bit of fog on Saturday morning, it was a perfect weekend...more like summer weather, not spring...certainly not weather typical for March!

With St. Patrick's Day out of the way, my next giveaway will be announced soon....I'm still working out the details, but here's a hit of what's coming up!

Started with a base of OPI What's the Cattitude, two coats.

Accented ring finger with China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out; just one coat as I try to conserve these HTF polishes!

Stamped using CH12 using Konad white special polish.

Filled in a few dots with Kaleidoscope Him Out. I did some experimenting with holo polishes for this type of mani.....holo OPI DS's don't work worth a darn...so far, the polishes from the China Glaze Kaleidoscope collex work the best for sparkly coverage with just a hint of holo.

I did the large flowers first but decided to fill in a few more.

Added a few random dots with Konad pastel yellow stamping polish, then finished with SV.

This CH12 image plate is part of the 26 piece collex from Cheeky-Beauty; their products can be seen on Amazon here. Canadian gals will be happy to know that Cheeky is working of getting these available for shipping to Canada...when I hear when, I'll let you know but last I heard is that it should be within weeks! And these plates may just might be part of my giveaway coming up! These along with a whollllle bunch of other plates from Cheeky-Beauty...please watch for details to be announced soon!

Just a couple more pix because I love how this turned out! Perfect for a weekend like we just had!

I've used this plate so much...probably more than any image in my stash...there's so many looks that can be achieved just by changing up the base, stamping polishes, accents, dots!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

This is the last St. Patrick's Day mani I'm going to share until next year!

Started with a base of Zoya Veruschka.

Added Icing Evergreen to start a gradient.

Then Midie No. 4, which is a lighter green glitter with various sizes of glitter versus the fine, darker glitter of Evergreen.

Here's a bottle shot of Midie No. 4. I'm glad I stumbled across these at a little shop not too far from my house....pretty, but they are certainly on the smelly side.

Stamped using CND Gold Chrome using the various size of clovers on XL F and BM03 for the accent middle finger. (It seems I forgot to upload a pix of the mani at this point and I've already deleted the pix from my camera so no shot of the mani in progress here!)

With all this glitter action, I knew I had to matte this mani...so a coat of Essie Matte About You was added.

Then I remembered how chippy matte mani's are.....so added a topcoat of SV. This is how I wore my nails when I was out and about...but I much prefer the matte look.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Green isn't one of my favourite colours...so I had to be a little creative coming up with a St. Patrick's Day mani without painting green on every nail. I thought of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow would be a little colourful...here's what I came up with.

Base polishes used starting at thumb are OPI What's Dune? over two coats of OPI Bride's Bouquet, then Catherine Arley 803, Catherine Arley 674, Catherine Arley 673 and Catherine Arley 800, all two coats except 674 which was three. Finally cracked open my Catherine Arley's after all this time.

My stamping failed me at the top of the middle finger plus a few other spots so I took a fine brush and hand painted in the lines. Not a fantastic job, but passable....from a distance!

Then I hand painted the cauldron for the pot of gold....this is why I don't do free hand art! lol! I stamped a shamrock too using XL F using A-England Saint George but it stamped fainter than I wanted so I did hand painted another coat of the polish over the design freehand.

Added a dab of Color Club Gingerbread Man for the gold.

Then decided a wanted some gold coins; used Nubar gold glitters and put them in the pot.

To prevent the faint holo from fading even more, I used a light coat of Sally Hansen Clear Hardener which is suppose to not kill the holo...not that it mattered in this case as the scattered holo is so faint to begin with. It was interesting to see that I had a little drag on the areas I hand painted....not sure why as the coat of SH was thin plus a good amount of time had passed since I had drawn in the lines.

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About Me

I discovered Konad a few years ago and it has captivated me ever since! I have a large polish and plate stash that keeps on growing! The biggest challenge I have lately is...what polish with what plate!
If you're interested in a polish swap, or want to contact me, I can be reached at: mrsrexy at gmail dot com.